"His mercies never come to an end" Lamentations 3:22

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The Solemnity of the Passing of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict

“Today we celebrate the transitus of our Holy Father, Saint Benedict. It would seem like a very straight forward historical feast, the passing away of the Father of Western Monasticism, the patron saint of Europe. It would seem like a very historically minded feast. It would seem.

“But those of us who are more ‘in the know’ know that it is not so. Discovering the historical remnant of this feast, indeed locating the physical relics of Saint Benedict is like a rather perverse game of “Where’s Waldo?” Is he at Monte Cassino or at Fleury? Is his arm, his hand here or there? And where is Walda? St. Scholastica? They are pressing questions, but…

“Perhaps that is not very important. Perhaps it is more important on this transitus feast to discover where Saint Benedict is right here, right now alive as he must be in this community, in this school of the Lord’s service, in the hearts and minds of his sons and daughters, laboring around the world under the guidance of his rule and in his honored memory. Where is Saint Benedict for us today?”

Father Denis Robinson, O.S.B.
Homily on the Solemnity of the Passing of
Our Holy Father Saint Benedict
Church of Our Lady of Einsiedeln
21 March 2014